Endorsements for the revised and expanded edition:
"This revised and expanded edition of Eyes Wide Open, already a standard on the topic, widens and deepens the discourse on the popular entertainment arts. Readers will find in William Romanowski's imaginative and down-to-earth approach to popular art as art a manifesto of Christian involvement and a matrix assessment of the sights and sounds that inescapably shape our everyday life."
--Scott Young, founder, City of Angels Film Festival
"When Eyes Wide Open first came out we celebrated! It was just the text we were looking for. In our media-saturated age we felt we needed a resource that could both equip students to understand the nature of the genres they consume and give them the 'eyes' to bring appropriate critique as well. Romanowski's book has done that for us and more. At Geneva College we have used it for the last several years in one of our core classes. How could we be anything but enthusiastic to see the new edition? As a sociologist I struggle to get my students to see how their own habits connect to the broader society in which they live, what C. Wright Mills called the 'sociological imagination.' I have seldom seen a resource that makes that happen like Romanowski's book. His scholarship is impeccable, his writing is engaging, and his faith perspective is compelling. I not only teach from it but I deeply enjoy it and highly recommend it."
--Bradshaw Frey, Geneva College
"I have used Eyes Wide Open as a companion text in my Introduction to Mass Communication course. Students find Romanowski's cogent synthesis of complex theological and philosophical concepts both accessible and engaging. Simply put, the book helps students to 'think Christianly' about faith and culture in meaningful ways--ways that challenge overly simplistic sacred-secular dichotomies that tend to prevent Christians from critical participation in contemporary culture. Romanowski's work articulates in a compelling way how a faith-based perspective can function as the filter for our consumption, critique, and even creation of popular art and culture. Regardless of your church background, this book should resonate at some level."
--Robert Woods, Spring Arbor University
"Eyes Wide Open provides clear biblical insights, accessible aesthetic criteria, and challenging approaches to what is often our all too casual interaction with popular culture. Romanowski's book provides an excellent tool for students to learn the skills to navigate 'the world behind the art.' Over the last several years Eyes Wide Open has become the favorite text of our students. They find it interesting, relevant, and easy to discuss and apply. And with this updated version that links the examples to the most recent experience of students, I'm sure it will continue to be enthusiastically embraced. So give it a try--you'll laugh, you'll cry--it's better than Cats."
--Terry Thomas, Geneva College
"As a professor of popular culture at a faith-based university, I find Eyes Wide Open an ideal text. It has academic rigor yet does not overwhelm undergraduates; it has strong theology yet does not rely upon a Christian readership. Without compromising scholarship, Bill Romanowski is able to make abstract ideas concrete with clear and compelling explanations, specific illustrations, and accessible language. He has done professors and students a great favor and has gone a long way in equipping the next generation of culture makers as agents of change and agents of grace."-
-Monica Ganas, Azusa Pacific University
Endorsements for the first edition:
"Eyes Wide Open is a 'must' book for every thinking Christian who is concerned with popular culture, but who is also concerned with the way Christians can 'demonize' that culture. When we rush to our nice, 'militarily defended' bastions of 'Christianized' culture, we deprive ourselves of reality and we deprive the culture of the witness and truth Christians owe the world. Repent! The works of repentance, in this case, can start with reading this book and then giving it to everybody you know. You'll be glad and they will, too."
--Steve Brown, president, KeyLife Network; professor, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando
"Eyes Wide Open inspires us to be wholly human and wholly Christian--using our faith, our emotions, and our brains to fully experience movies, music, television, and art. Romanowski encourages us to worry less about 'What would Jesus think of me watching this?' and more to think like Jesus while watching. As a Christian in Hollywood, this book revitalized and legitimized my 'calling' in the entertainment industry. We can produce entertainment that is esthetically excellent and promotes a worldview based on God's influence in our lives."
--Brenda Bos, television production manager
"When it comes to mapping the tricky intersection of faith and culture, William Romanowski is a trustworthy and masterful guide. Like Bob Briner’s Roaring Lambs, Eyes Wide Open is a must for any Christian who is bold enough to engage and understand popular culture, rather than point fingers at Hollywood or hide in a safe, sanitized Christian ghetto."
--Lou Carlozo, features writer,
Chicago Tribune
"William Romanowski confronts the culture with his eyes wide open to the negative effects it can have upon us. He also informs us of ways we can increase our understanding of the world in which we live and thus be aided in the task of addressing our culture in a relevant way. His commentary on contemporary music and films will get the Christian reader to discern things that otherwise would go unnoticed in the world around us."
--Tony Campolo, professor of sociology, Eastern University
"Eyes Wide Open is a wonderfully caring book. It seeks to meet a pressing, legitimate need of the church by answering the questions: How should a student/follower of Jesus think about culture? And, having thought, what does action look like? Romanowski is one of the kings of cultural analysis and critique. Every disciple of Jesus ought to avail themselves of his royal expertise."
--Charlie Peacock, Ashworth Record Producer and author of
At The Crossroads: An Insider's Look at Contemporary Christian Music
"This is a lively and much needed Christian perspective on the popular arts--helping the reader to move beyond a mindless acquiescence to popular culture on the one hand, and blanket condemnation on the other. The style is direct and accessible, giving it a natural appeal to a wide audience."
--Jeremy Begbie, University of St. Andrews; Ridley Hall, University of Cambridge
"Among those working at the intersection of faith and popular culture, Bill Romanowski uniquely blends the mind of the academic, the heart of a disciple of Jesus, and the ear of a dual listener who hears a conversation between faith and culture and helps interpret both. His matrix for analyzing popular artworks is especially useful. Eyes Wide Open is an essential resource for the emerging cadre of Christians who desire to engage culture effectively."
-- Dick Staub, president, Center for Faith and Culture, CRS Productions
"I love the broader perspective of Eyes Wide Open, especially as a Christian working in the business. . . . Particularly his observation regarding our naive assumptions over or under spiritualizing the movie and television business. Bill keeps bringing us back and challenging us (me) as to how we can develop a grid to sift entertainment against our Christian worldview."
--Ralph Winter, producer,
X-MEN, Star Trek VI; executive producer,
Planet of the Apes
"As a screenwriter working in Hollywood, I appreciate Bill Romanowski's thoughtful challenge to people of faith to move beyond mere moralizing and melodrama. He dares us to think critically, to create truthfully, and to respond authentically to our complex twenty-first-century culture."
--Craig Detweiler, codirector, Reel Spirituality, Fuller Theological Seminary
"This is a work of a passionate imagination and incisive intellect. Romanowski proposes a crisp approach to criticism that salutes poular culture and commends religious faith. His cheerleading for varied expressions of popular culture are sobered by advancing a Christian criticism that is not mired in mobilized moralisms but is spiced with theological themes. The cineplex and the sanctuary will both be blessed by paying critical attention to this important book. I thank William Romanowski for assisting us in seeing the connections between Stanley Kubrick and the Christian worldview."
--Rev. Scott D. Young, founder, City of Angels Film Festival
"Romanowski has done it again. Thought provoking and true--a must read!"
--Barry Landis, vice president/general manager, Atlantic Records
"In the tradition of C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer, William Romanowski has articulated a deep theological perspective on culture and the popular arts. He urges Christians to love music and the movies as God would have us love them--not as passive consumers, but as thoughtful critics who are wide awake and enthusiastically enjoying the whole of God’s creation."
--Scott Derrickson, screenwriter and director,
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Reviews of the first edition:
"Romanowski provides the reader with a wealth of practical advice and insight regarding the implementation of Christian thinking into the various art forms. . . . Throughout the book, Romanowski uses appropriate illustrations from a wide-range of art forms to make his points. Artists and all who are interested in discerning art Biblically will find much thought-provoking material in this very practical volume."
--
Chalcedon Report
"This short book is 171 pages of useful wisdom. . . . Romanowski's subject is the popular arts and the Christian; his contribution would have to be among the most biblical and useful of the ever-advancing tide. . . . Read it with profit, and enjoy."
--Adriaan Schepel,
Reformed Theological Review
